Puppy Survival Thread for New and Old Pups - here comes winter 2024

[Bupster]

I thought I might as well be the one to start the new thread! Nothing to report but a sleepy puppy over here.

@YorkshireFelix nooo I hate it but it was dog dad's idea to help me out a bit! Trouble is I can't go out when she's here and I wouldn't leave pupsy with her either as that doesn't seem fair on either of them, and so I just end up creeping round the house trying to work somehow, dog and laptop in tow, trying to keep out of the way. Have considered going to sit in the car with pupsy but she would think that was weird if we just sat on the drive and didn't go anywhere for two hours.

Haha, I threaten all the time to get another pup, or even foster a younger one, but I know full well that neither humans nor dog are ready to go through that again. I suspect I will have a human baby before another dog one, and then another pup after that as I'm a sucker for punishment.

Our springer/collie was my first ever dog and I can’t believe I went straight on with that combo 😂 but she was the best girl ever - although a total nightmare to keep stimulated!! She was unbelievably intelligent, and we only discovered after she passed how she was keeping the rest of the house in order… 😉

We suspect she also had whippet in her - so she was extremely intelligent, and extremely energetic and extremely fast. It was kind of like having another human in the house a lot of the time. In hindsight, I feel like it’s a bad combo, purely for the sake of the dog - she was VERY highly strung and I imagine the intelligence that herding dogs have, mixed with the energy of springers, made her a ball of nervous energy on the days that I didn’t manage at least 2 5 mile walks with her.

She definitely trained our other girl who is still with us - we got her 7 months later, she’s def a lab base, we suspect a teeny bit of collie due to her markings and maybe some pointer. They were both rescue so we can’t be sure. And because she was trained by the older one we hadn’t realised what REAL puppies are like 😂 this is them together when they were wee 😊

I’ve def done the crying/regret thing about getting a puppy!!!

@peachgreen pets at home sells a fantastic accident cleaner upper, brand name Simple. It removes stains and smells so easily and impeccably. Smeels so clean too. No need to feel like your home smells of wee with pup when Simple is in the world. I have the largest bottle. Get one and I'm willing to bet you'll wish you got smaller bottle because soon you won't need it. My dog took about 8 weeks with us to be 99.9% clean. He then had 1 more a accident a few weeks later when we left him alone for several hours before becoming 100% clean. Now even I'd we accidentally sleep in v late and leave him unintentionally without toilet break for over 12 hours overnight, or even if he has upset tummy, he can be trusted 100% to stay clean inside. Betty will totally get there. It'll just take up to 2-3 months. Then it'll be so so much easier. Hold on girl! x

@brushingboots when I got promoted a couple of years back I got myself an iPad and a cleaner. The latter was vastly cheaper and has been an absolute lifeline. I feel desperately awkward too right now, as she comes once a fortnight and at the moment it's on days when I work from home. When I can, I take the monster out for a walk, then hide in whatever part of the house has been cleaned when we get back, so he's not spending the whole two hours she's here eating her dusters. He still nicks them the instant he gets home (and her shoes). Luckily she has a dog herself and a good sense of humour!!

uh oh! competition for Bill re the cutest puppy in the world.

A better day today. Put down a puppy pad so when she did have an accident it wasn’t a big deal – and at one point she trotted to the back door and barked to be let out so that feels like huge progress! Also concentrated more on the enforced naps and it made a huge difference – when she was barky and hyper I popped her in the crate and she fell asleep almost instantly. Thank you so much for all the advice.

First full day alone with her will be Wednesday. Crossing my fingers it goes well…

That is amazing progress! I am genuinely so pleased to hear this. My pup is almost 6 months and I still force him to nap when he starts being a twat and 90% of the time he will go straight to sleep so it's always tiredness/overstimulation. It's probably one of the best puppy tips I learnt 😃

So glad you had a better day @peachgreen
It's good that all the advice here is helping. We'll be here for moral support on Wednesday if you need it.

Agree with @YorkshireFelix that regular nap times are essential.

That’s a great update @peachgreen they do need lots of naps. When Roman is being really annoying I tend to start ignoring him then he huffs & puffs a bit and goes to lie in his bed - 5 seconds later he’s asleep 😂

So far so good... although she had her injections yesterday so I think she's unnaturally sleepy, bless her! One successful outdoor wee and no accidents. Yet...

DP will be home around 5 and I'm heading straight out to the cinema as my reward for getting through the day!

Well she's definitely not sleepy now. Lots of barking and whining at me and trying to escape her pen, and three accidents. Not 100% sure how to handle this. She has weed and pooed in the last half hour so I didn't think it can be toilet-related. Took her out again and nothing, she sniffed around for a bit and then went to go back inside. Now she's barking and whining and trying to get out again. Not sure how to handle this – should I just ignore her? I'm getting nothing done, unsurprisingly, and my head is pounding!

@peachgreen Personally I'd ignore as if she's toileted and fed and otherwise safe then she's just trying her luck. Could well be tiredness again, just displaying in a frustrating (and noisy) way. I'd pop her back into bed and see if that placates her. Has she got a nice chew that she might enjoy? I find that chewing often calms them down so they can sleep – like a dummy, sort of, just gives them a focus to chill out with and will give them a push to nod off.

Also, just to add @peachgreen, we taught a 'go and lie down'/'go to bed' command very early on – it was probably the second thing she learned after 'sit'. I paired saying 'go and lie down' quite firmly with physically putting her in her bed and if she stood up I'd just move her front legs out and down so she had literally no choice but to be lying. We can't always be the entertainment givers as we have to work to pay for them, and they have to learn to settle, even if they're not asleep.

You're doing so well, don't lose heart x

I would also ignore if she's recently been to the toilet and would assume she's just a bit tired! We also taught a settle command with Vinny and it does help somewhat (although he has naturally chilled out as he's got older).

When he was that age he was often only awake 40 minutes before needing a couple of hours sleep again. I think once you're able to do some short walks it will help so much.

I know you may not feel like it but you're doing a fab job!! It is really hard, especially those days when you're on your own. They can be little twats most of the time!!

Thank you gang. I took your advice and ignored her, and she slept for about 20 minutes then woke up and I gave her a new chew toy which has kept her occupied for a bit. Phew! Part of the problem is that we don't have a crate in this room so I can't do enforced naps. I might have to start moving it around with me!

Remind me how many weeks she is now? When Vinny was 12 weeks I bought a puppy safe pack of natural chews (they were recommended from 12 weeks +) which were amazing for keeping him occupied while I was working. Also a lick mat with Greek yoghurt on - even better if you have the foresight to freeze it so it lasts longer!

@peachgreen Have you got a bed for her beyond her crate? If you do, I wonder if you could encourage enforced naps in that too, so you don't have to move the crate around endlessly. (I didn't/don't crate so have only ever done enforced naps in a bed and it worked fine for us.)

Totally agree with @YorkshireFelix about puppy-safe natural chews. The day I was introduced to the world of natural chews was the best day ever. People do, rightly, talk about the importance of pups needing to learn to settle without 'help', ie a chew/kong, but as long as you don't rely on them and she learns to settle anyway, they're well worthwhile, and will keep her teeth looking good too.

@peachgreen Bill never really settled in a crate - he will settle in his bed at my feet if I'm eating dinner, or grumpily in one of his many, many other beds, but these days my best method is having him on the sofa with me - even if he ends up on the floor at my feet (he moves around a lot during naps). When I know he's sleepy, either because it's time (see below) or he's actually started yawning, I just sit in a place where he's used to napping nearby and I stop responding to him.

I found that he went from one routine of naps to the current one overnight. His small puppy routine was to be awake for two hours and asleep for 90 minutes without fail. Now he still naps for 90 minutes almost to the exact minute, but will be awake a lot longer in the mornings and early afternoons, and conks out early evening, so he probably still naps for up to six hours a day, depending when you count his overnight sleep beginning 🙄- I'm not entirely sure he got the memo about being a dog and being most awake late at night. I'm very glad we seem to be past the small puppy 10pm zoomies though...

I was looking back at my Bad Puppy Times notes the other day with some misplaced nostalgia and discovered some horrifying details that I had blanked out, from the third week we had pupsy:

– 2000: Faffed around endlessly biting me and pottering on the floor with chew
– 2100 Briefly settled on sofa with chew – back and forth in and out attempting loo trips until 2145
– 2153: Actually settled

Two hours of not aggressively not settling in the evening! It's no wonder I was totally beside myself. Now after supper she shouts at me to go and sit on the sofa so she can lie on me and looks aghast if I try and do something else before we retire for the evening.

Brie has never had a crate or a bed. She's always had the run of two rooms; kitchen and orangery, both quite big spaces. When she was little she slept under the dining table in the orangery, she was in there all summer. Now she's big she sleeps in the kitchen.
Because we didn't crate, we taught her that the word "sleepytime" means rest. Obviously initially she was getting night time zoomies at 10pm (evidently she was in synch with Bill) and not settling for ages, but she learned pretty quickly about sleepytime. Now she's allowed in the living room as well, she just wanders in and greets the cat then lies down for a snooze. She's really very little trouble.

I don't honestly know if any of my stuff is relevant. I do things a bit differently, I'm old and I learned stuff my own way, long before the internet. I don't really keep a record, I just do what I do and it might all be wrong, but I have a good calm puppy now and in June/July we had hyper zoomies and weeing everywhere.

There's just no way I could puppy-proof rooms enough for her to be safe wandering around, although honestly I think I would prefer it (it's certainly what our adult dog did). And also for working it would just be impossible to have her wandering the room, it's bad enough trying to keep an eye on her in the pen! I do feel like I'm getting this all wrong, but I just don't know how else to do it.

I'm not sure how I could do enforced naps in a bed, she would just keep getting up!

Sorry for short and distracted messages – she is currently barking in my ear...!

@peachgreen
You're not getting it wrong at all. There is no blueprint for puppies, it's all about finding what works best for you. All pups are different and our working lives are different.
It's why I say I don't know how much of my stuff is relevant; it may not be, but something I say might help you or someone else who is lurking and following this thread.

The pen is good, she's probably not ready for free range yet, especially while you're working. I have little choice because my pup was larger and heavier than a fully grown Cocker by 10 weeks 😨 but I have two puppy proof rooms after having multiple dogs, I appreciate that not everyone is in that position. Pen and crate is perfectly fine with a tiny pup like Betty, it's just that our Brie is a donkey 😆

Your routine will come, I can tell you that with certainty. She will eventually start accepting "enforced" sleep. By enforced we almost mean that there's nothing going on so puppy will get bored and sleep. That is the aim. It can take time, it's early days for you. I know it's incredibly frustrating at this point and it is highly disruptive, but in a week or two, things will be very different and you will start to see a tiny bit of progress. Then it gradually gets easier and once they hit 4 or 5 months it's brilliant. You have a great routine and a contented pup.

I know we all keep telling you exactly the same stuff and you probably feel like screaming! But you will get there with Betty. It will all be okay, it won't always be like this xxx